, 1887-03-08
THAT BUNDLE.

and Miss Haven, a business man and his
daughter, came to America for three
months one April, and among other visits
they made one to mutual friends in the
town in which / lived.
called to see them the day after their
arrival. They were out, and left town
without returning my call, as they were
there but a day or two, and without see
ing me or any of my family. I thought
but little Of the matter, though / vas
sorry to have missed them.
\ month went by, and one evening, just
at twilight, one of the ladies of the family
whom they had visited-whom l will call
Smith for the sake of convenience-came
in to see me, and said:
''Oh, I only ran in for a minutel I've
been trying to come for n month to ask
you why you never acknowledged the re-
ceipt of hat bundle Mr.. Haven brought
over to you from Mrs. Bowen"
What bundle9r / said. 81 never had
any bundles. l never knew that Mrs.
Bowen sent me any bundle"
why you must have it.; you must for
get. Mr.. Haven sent it to you by the
Adams Express from New York as soon
as he landed, and he has thought it very
strange that you never acknowledged it.
And he has got so vexed about it, and
thought it SO rude of you not to thank
him for bringing it to you that he wouldn't
ask about it until now, just as he is going
home again, for he wants to tell Mrs.
Bowen you received it."
~ am awfully sorry" I said; 'but you
know l couldn't very well write about II
bundle l never received and didn't know
had been sent
What was in the bundletn
My curiosity was very great, and l lis
tened eagerly for her answer. Visions of
all sorts of beautiful things flashed through
my head-gloves, handkerchief, stockings,
perhaps even q dress. Could it be n raw
ishing bonnet? l was all ears and all ex-
element.
Miss Haven said she didn't know what
was in the bundle, but she said it felt like
silks or satins. It'wasn't a large bundle "
"Well,' l said, now where under the
sun is II that bundle2"
at might possibly have zone to faith
er's,n my husband remarked.
He had dropped his usually all absorb
ing evening paper and was listening to us.
Your father'sS'' l nearly shrieked.
Dear me! if there is anything absolutely
detestable it is to live in a small town
and be the duplicate In name of your
mother-in-law with junior attached, which
all your friends forget and all your enc
mics as well. Our dinners n gone to
your fathers, and they a eaten them.
They rave stewed our cherished small
purchases of early Bermuda tomatoes for
salads, read my letters, been Mortified by
my bills, kept my dresses and bonnets a
week or so until they found they were
mine, and now they have got my bundle.
| wish''-and here 1 rose from my chaiI
to give emphasis to my words-"yes, ]
do wish you had been named Nebuchad-
nezzar; anything but what you ART
named.n
YES said my husband, at Is annoy
ing certainly; but you know ever my
mother would hardly have kept q bundl,
three months. On the whole, 1t couldn't
have gone there"
| felt stern reproof in my husbands
voice, and / took refuge in remarkinl
tartly:
"Wel, what did you suggest it for'"
IF you will wait, Mrs. Smith, ~ said my
husband, rising, 'I'n walk up to fathers
and just find out positively if the bundle
went there or not. If it didn't, we mus
inquire at the express Office. or curse il
will turn up
So he went off, and we sat and talked
until he came back, but when he did come
it was only to say:
They don't know anything about any
bundle.r
We exclaimed, and wondered, and sur
missed for a little while, and then my hus
band went down town and inquired at the
express office. After he went Mrs. Smitl
explained to me that Mr.. Haven, in hi!
frequent trips across the Atlantic, had beer
so bothered by frequent applications from
friends to take over to America variou.
bundles, sometimes OF dutiable goods, which
he was expected to smuggle, that he hat
for yaarG mnda II n nOint tn cav AaNnif n
all such requests from everybody, nc matter
from whom they might come; but that m,
sister, not being aware Of this fact, hat
asked him to take the small bundle foI
me, and that he had gladly done so. Mis-!
Haven had described the bundle to Mrs
Smith. 1t was about ten inches long b,
five wide, and was done up in gray wrap
ping paper, and was fully addressed t,
me-state, city, street and number. Mis-!
Haven remembered the bundle wildly
because when Mrs. Bowen had sent wore
that it was a small bundle, she judge,
TINT it might perhaps fill up n quarter o
a tfunk of ordinary size, and SO hat
packed one of her trunks with reference
to it, and was delightfully."- surprised whel
she found that from her point of view i
really was n small bundle. 1t was tn
only bundle they brought over not thei
own. They had brought over two or tire
gifts for friends, and all had been sen
away nj the same time from the Hote
Brunswick in New York.
Here seemed n clew that eagerl.
caught.
at may have gon as n gift to one o
those friends who just acknowledged re
ceiving their beautiful present, etc, an,
didn't specify what article had been re
ceived,' ~ l said.
But said Mrs. Smith, ''the bundl
was addressed to you. They neve
changed il at all, but just sent it of"
"Well,n l said, then the express com
pany has mislaid it or lost 1t, but /
would be n real comfort to me to knoy
what was in that bundle"
Write to your sister and find out,
said Mrs. Smith.
Brilliant ideal' l sat down to m
desk and wrote two letters, one to my sis
ter in Paris, saying that / had just learne
that she had sent me a bundle by MI
Haven, and that it had never reached mt
Al | wrote it occurred to me that she ha'
intended the gift as q surprise, and tim
was the reason l had not known OF II
All this [ wrote, and begged her to answe
me at once. This was Monday night, al
| was going to New York the next day
Mr.. Haven wa to sail for Havre OIL tn
next day but one. l wrote n note to NJ
lIasen, who was to return alone, stain
the facts about the bundle; that 1 deepl